asked the Attorney-General what is the number of registered disabled people who have been appointed justices of the peace; and over what period this number applies.

The information sought is not available.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what further consultations are planned by the Royal Parks Department regarding access to royal parks by cyclists.

There are no plans for further consultations, but my Department is always ready to consider suggestions for improvement which are consistent with the needs for other park users.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he will list in the Official Report the number of housing units regarded as difficult to let possessed by each housing authority in England; and if he will indicate what percentage these figures represent of the council-owned housing stock in each case.

Local authorities' 1984 housing investment programme returns included, for 1 April, numbers of the dwellings that they owned within their own areas, which they classed as difficult to let. Numbers reported are not necessarily comparable as authorities' criteria may differ. No dwellings were reported difficult to let by 161 authorities; the figures for the other authorities are as follows:

Local Authorities' Difficult to Let Dwellings 1 April 1984
Local Authority	Number	Per cent. of LIA's stock
North, excluding Cumbria
Hartlepool	200	1·74
Langbaurgh	950	5·37
Middlesborough	370	2·03
Stockton-on-Tees	1,275	6·67
Chester-le-Street	85	1·12
Durham	334	2·87
Easington	44	0·23
Sedgefield	306	1·91
Teesdale	10	0·75
Wear Valley	522	6·29

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many temporary jobs and how many permanent jobs were created by the international garden festival in Liverpool.

In addition to the 200 to 300 people working on the construction of the international garden festival at any one time between autumn 1981 and spring 1984, around 500 people were directly employed in the operation of the festival itself. Many other jobs, some temporary, others permanent, were created indirectly by the festival elsewhere on Merseyside.It is too early to say how many permanent jobs will result from the success of the festival.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment if he is satisfied with the operation of the code of practice on noise from audible intruder alarms 1982; and if he will make a statement.

Yes. The code of practice, which offers advice on how to avoid or minimise disturbance from the prolonged ringing of burglar alarms, was issued to supplement the provision of part III of the Control of Pollution Act 1974 which enable local authorities and magistrates' courts to control noise nuisance. As a code of practice approved under the Act, it serves to guide local authorities and magistrates' courts in the exercise of their powers, but does not itself have the force of law. I have no reason to believe that the code is unsatisfactory; if my hon. Friend has evidence of difficulty I will of course consider it.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment which Government Departments use his Department's list of programme and partnership authorities for the allocation of resources; in what ways; and if he will provide a breakdown of the additional allocations that have been made to such authorities for the financial years 1982–83, 1983–84 and 1984–85.

The list is used primarily in the distribution of urban programme resources, to which my Department, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Health and Social Security and the Department of Transport contribute. The list of districts designated under the Inner Urban Areas Act 1978, including partnership and programme authorities, is also used to give additional weightings to the generalised needs index scores of authorities which determine, in part, their housing investment programme allocations. Allocations to partnership and programme authorities made through the urban programme for the years in question are shown in the table. Because of the local discretionary element in HIP allocations, it is not possible to disaggregate the additional allocations made to partnership and programme authorities as a result of the weighting of their GNI scores.

Urban programme resources allocated to partnership and programme areas
	1982–83 £ million	1983–84 £ million	*1984–85 £ million
Partnerships†
Birmingham	25·6	24·0	24·5
Docklands‡	17·0	6·4	2·1
Hackney	12·1	12·4	12·0
Islington	9·7	10·5	10·4
Lambeth	10·4	12·6	13·5
Liverpool‡	24·8	23·6	24·1
Manchester/Salford	23·6	25·1	24·5
Newcastle/Gateshead	19·8	19·7	18·0

Programme Authorities‡║

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what account is taken by the Development Commission of the activities and potential of preserved railways in its overall plans; and if he will make a statement.

The Development Commission is charged with assisting the social and economic development of rural areas. It has established priorities of helping to increase the number and range of job opportunities and of encouraging the maintenance and where possible, improvement of services, including transport, in rural areas. To the extent that preserved railways do or could help meet these objectives, the commission would be willing to consider whether it can provide assistance to them.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what steps he is taking to reduce the level of unemployment in the construction industry in England and Wales; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Member to the Government's public expenditure plans for 1985–86 to 1987–88, published today. These offer the best prospects for the industry, through the Government's policies of tight control of public spending and encouragement of the private sector. These lead to a 4 per cent. growth in real terms in construction industry output in 1984.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received concerning the effect of cutbacks in house building and the imposition of value added tax on building alterations on the construction industry; and if he will make a statement.

I refer the hon. Gentleman to the speech by my right hon. Friend on 19 December at column 305. The level of overall capital investment in the economy, public and private, was last year at a record level of around £55 billion. This year it is expected to reach another new record level of around £60 billion. The construction industry is sharing in that investment. The maintenance of tight control on public expenditure and measures taken in the 1984 Budget on VAT are part of the Government's overall economic strategy which has led to a 4 per cent. growth in real terms in the construction industry in 1984.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment what representations he has received concerning the effect on the construction industry of cutbacks in local government spending; and if he will make a statement.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State discussed the recent report of the National Economic Development Office on the infrastructure at a meeting of the council on 9 January. A number of representations were made to my right hon. Friend on that occasion. My right hon. Friend and I hope to meet the group of eight next month. Overall capital investment, public and private, was a record of around £55 billion last year, in which the construction industry shared.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment how many families were on local authority housing waiting lists in England and Wales at the latest available date.

The Department does not collect information on council housing waiting lists in England. For Wales, the hon. Member is referred to right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales.

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment when he intends introducing legislation to strengthen the provisions of sections 28 and 29 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

[pursuant to his reply, 20 November 1984, c. 150]: I understand that proposals for strengthening the provisions of the Act in relation to sites of special scientific interest are to be included in the Wildlife and Countryside (Amendment) Bill introduced by the hon. Member for South Shields (Dr. Clark).

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he can provide any figures on the total amount of borrowed funds for which mortgage tax relief is provided on the interest, but which are not devoted to house purchase or improvement.

It is a condition of mortgage interest relief that the loan must be used for house purchase or improvement.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will rank, for the most recent available date, the regions within the European Economic Community by (a) total unemployment rate and (b) gross domestic product per inhabitant.

Comparable data are not available for individual regions within the European Community, but an approximate ordering of unemployment by country is possible using data provided by the statistical office of the European Community. A ranking for all EC countries other than Luxembourg and Greece for the third quarter 1984 is as follows.Comparisons of gross domestic product per inhabitant are very sensitive to changes in the exchange rate. A set of estimates designed to overcome this problem is published by the OECD using purchasing power parities. A provisional ranking for 1984 is shown in the following table.

(a) Unemployment Rates (per cent.) Third Quarter 1984
	per cent.
1. Ireland	16·50
2. Belgium	15·25
3. Netherlands	14·75
4. Italy	12·75
5. United Kingdom	12
6. France	10
7. Denmark	9·50
8. Germany	8

(b) Real Gross Domestic Product (US=100) per Capita 1984
	per cent.
1. Denmark	81
2. Germany	79
3. Luxembourg	76
4. France	75
5. Belgium	74
6. Netherlands	69
7. United Kingdom	66
8. Italy	57
9. Ireland	45
10. Greece	38

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer, on the basis of the assumptions made in the autumn statement 1984, what would be the estimated cost of raising the £8,500 year threshold for the assessment of fringe benefits by directors and higher paid employees to offset the effects of inflation since this threshold was introduced; and what would be the new figure for 1985–86.

I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what would be the cost of changing the writing-down allowance on plant and machinery from 25 per cent. on the reducing balance to (a) 25 per cent. straight line and (b) 20 per cent. straight line.

I shall let my hon. Friend have a reply as soon as possible.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current estimate of the gain to the revenue from the abolition of the married personal allowance (a) in total and (b) to persons below retirement age.

[pursuant to his reply, 21 January 1985, c. 321]: The estimated yield from reducing the married man's allowance and married age allowance to the levels of the corresponding allowances for single people would be about £4·1 billion in a full year at 1984–85 levels of income. £3·6 billion of this estimate is in respect of taxpayers under 65.

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what is the current estimate of the gain to the revenue from the abolition of the additional personal allowance (a) in total and (b) to persons below retirement age.

[pursuant to his reply, 21 January 1985, c. 320]: The estimated yield from abolishing the additional personal allowance would be about £140 million in a full year at 1984–85 levels of income. Approximately £1 million of this is in respect of taxpayers over 65.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of unmarked operational vehicles used by the Metropolitan police are equipped with (a) two-tone horns or sirens and (b) detachable blue lights or beacons.

I understand from the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis that of the 675 unmarked operational vehicles used by the Metropolitan police, 81 (12 per cent.) are, or will soon be, equipped with both an emergency sound system and a detachable blue beacon. A further 13 have an emergency sound system only.

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of the television licence fee is paid over to the British Broadcasting Corporation; and how the balance is accounted for.

The BBC's home services grant is determined by deducting the expenses of administering the licensing system and investigating complaints of interference to broadcasting from the gross television licence fee revenue. In 1983–84 the total licence fee revenue collected was some £763 million and the grant paid to the BBC £704 million. The major expenses which fell to be deducted from the gross licence revenue in the same year were:

	£ million
Payments to the Post Office for collecting licence fees and enforcing the licensing system	51
Costs incurred in investigating complaints of interference to broadcasting	5·5
Home Office expenses (including cost of anti-evasion publicity campaign)	2·5

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the contribution of (a) self-financing and (b) stock market equity finance to the investment requirements of British private industry since 1978.

It is not possible to relate individual sources of companies' funds to particular uses. Statistics of the sources and uses of United Kingdom industrial and commercial companies' funds are published regularly in "Financial Statistics" table 8.2. On the definitions used in that table, percentage contributions have been as follows:

Percentage of total sources of funds
	Total internal funds	Issues of ordinary shares for cash
1978	78	4
1979	75	3
1980	65	3
1981	64	5
1982	63	3
1983	78	5
January-September
1983	84	6
1984	89	3

Expenditure on fixed assets and on the increase in the book value of stocks in the United Kingdom has accounted for between 57 per cent. and 72 per cent. of total uses of funds in these years. It must be emphasised that different answers could be obtained by classifying certain items differently (for example by treating payments of taxes and dividends as uses of funds instead of deducting them from income as in the table in "Financial Statistics").

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what has been the value of British trade with Laos for each of the last five years; and what is the value of British bilateral and multilateral aid to Laos for each of the years since the end of 1975.

The value of British trade with Laos for each of the last five years for which complete yearly figures are available is as follows:

£ million
	United Kingdom exports to	United Kingdom imports from
1979	0·3	0·05
1980	0·7	0·03
1981	0·5	0·1
1982	0·9	0·4
1983	0·6	0·1
1984*	0·5	0·2
* January to October.

The value of British bilateral and multilateral aid to Laos since the end of 1975 is as follows:

£ thousand
	Bilateral	Multilateral
1976	100	*100
1977	45	*100
1978	912	*800
1979	29	*600
1980	13	580
1981	80	620
1982	—	520
1983	1	*600
* Estimated.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish or place in the Library a list showing all schemes and measures currently available to help small businesses, indicating which have been introduced since June 1979 and how each is specifically accessible to worker, neighbourhood and community cooperatives; and how many of each type of co-operative is benefitting from each scheme or measure.

Information on the Government's main schemes is given in the following Department of Trade and Industry publications: "How to make Your Business Grow"; "Help for growing businesses" and "Small firms mean business", copies of which are in the Library. No distinction is normally made in schemes of assistance between co-operatives and other small businesses; they would qualify as long as they satisfied the relevant criteria. For the same reason no separate records are kept of the benefit which co-operatives receive from specific schemes.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will publish a table showing for each year from 1984–85 to 1991–92 the following information, calculated on the same basis as table 4.1 in Cmnd. 9143-II, for regional development grant and selective assistance to individual industries, firms and undertakings (a) the total amounts available, (b) the amount likely to be claimed by all projects which will benefit from the transitional arrangements and (c) the net amount available under the new scheme to new projects.

Projections other than those published in Cmnd. 9143 are not yet available. The White Paper on public expenditure from 1985–86 to 1987–88 is expected to be published very shortly and will give information up to the year 1987–88. Payments under old RDG in respect of expenditure defrayed before 29 November 1984, or of assets provided before 29 November 1985 should be very small by 1988–89 as claims have to be made within two years of the end of the quarter in which the asset is provided. However payments in respect of assets provided as part of certain projects in receipt of selective assistance whose eligibility for the old scheme of regional development grant has been preserved by the transitional provisions may continue until some time after these projects are completed. Payments under the new RDG scheme are expected to increase over the next few years.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) how much Government financial assistance has been given to the tobacco industry in assisted areas in the form of Government grants or otherwise;(2) if he will list the firms involved where Government financial help in assisted areas has been given to the tobacco industry;(3) if he will list the Government financial help that has been given to the cigar trade in assisted areas in the last five financial years.

The following selective assistance has been provided by the Department of Trade and Industry under the Industry Act 1972 and Industrial Development Act 1982 to companies in Great Britain from 1 April 1979 to date.

	Payments by value
Section 7
1 April 1979 to 30 November 1984	£5·4 million
Firms receiving assistance
Tabac Leaf Industry Limited
Carreras Rothmans Limited
Imperial Tobacco Limited
J. R. Freeman and Son Limited
Section 8
1 April 1979 to 30 November 1984	£113,000
Firms receiving assistance
W. D. & H. 0. Wills Limited
Senior Service Limited

The above assistance was all in grant form.Information on other assistance by this and other Government Departments is only available at disproportionate cost. No figures are available for the cigar trade in isolation.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the Government will provide continuing and increased assistance in promoting British Aerospace overseas in pursuit of orders following the completed privatisation of the company.

There will be no change in the Government assistance available to British Aerospace in relation to overseas sales. British Aerospace will continue to be eligible for the full range of support on the same basis as other United Kingdom companies.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry (1) what representations he has received from consumers' organisations concerning the practice by some licensed establishments of selling wine in unlined or unmarked glasses in contravention of the voluntary code of practice agreed between the Government and the licensed trade;(2) what representations he has received from the local authorities' co-ordinating body on trading standards, concerning the operation of the voluntary code of practice agreed between the Government and the licensed trade on the sale of wine by the glass;(3) if he will introduce legislation to give statutory effect to provisions of the voluntary code of practice on the sale of wine which require public house licensees to display the price and the precise volume by which wine is sold by the glass.

Since the introduction of the voluntary code of practice in May 1984 the Department has not received any representations from consumer organisations concerning sales of wine in unmarked glasses.In October last year the Department received from LACOTS a copy of a survey undertaken by local authorities to ascertain the levels of compliance with the code. This showed that many licensees were unaware of the provisions of the code and that it had not been adopted as widely as had been hoped. However, since the code has been in operation for less than six months, LACOTS decided to conduct a further survey early in 1985. When these results are available we shall be better able to judge the success of the code and decide what further action, if any, is necessary.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what was the share of total insurance transactions, including life, property and vehicle insurance but excluding Lloyd's, accounted for by the top five insurance companies in the United Kingdom in 1948, 1958, 1968, 1978 and 1983, or the nearest available year in each case.

In 1980, the share of net premium income (that is to say net of refunds, rebates and premia for re-insurance ceded for United Kingdom business of all United Kingdom-authorised insurance companies) accounted for by the five United Kingdom-authorised companies with the highest such net premium income, was 23·4 per cent.1980 was the first year when information in a suitably available form to answer the hon. Member's question was prepared (in "Business Monitor MA16, Insurance Business Statistics 1980"). The figures for subsequent years have not yet been published. Information from other sources could only be collected at disproportionate cost.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will explain more fully the meaning of the words "professional integrity" in article 23 of the EEC eighth directive of 10 April 1984 on approval of persons responsible for carrying out the statutory audits of accounting documents; and whether these words include professional competence.

I shall reply to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if the taking up of a senior position with Lloyd's by Mr. W. C. Beckett, the recently retired solicitor in his Department, was approved by the appropriate departmental committee.

Approval for Mr. Beckett to take up the appointment with Lloyd's was given by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry in conformity with the normal rules governing the acceptance of business appointments by Crown servants. Reference to the Advisory Committee (the Diamond committee) was not required under the rules.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action the Government are taking on research into computer translation through the use of Esperanto following the study and reports made by the European Economic Community Commission.

I shall reply to the hon. Member as soon as possible.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what information he has as to the number of major United Kingdom investments which have taken place in, and of major contracts which have been concluded with, South Africa in the past 12 months; and if he will make a statement.

[pursuant to the reply, 18 January 1985; c. 257]: While there is no requirement for United Kingdom companies to report on major contracts which they have concluded overseas, information on the flows of direct investment (excluding banking and oil) by country of investment, is collected annually in the overseas transactions enquiry conducted under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 by the Department of Trade and Industry. The Bank of England collects corresponding information for banking and oil. Information for 1984 will be published in the spring of 1986. The most recent information is for 1982 (published in "Business Monitor MA4") when net outward direct investment by United Kingdom companies (other than oil) in South Africa was £228 million.

asked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if, prior to the European Space Agency Council meeting in Rome on 30 January, he will make a statement on his policy regarding an independent space agency for Britain.

[pursuant to the reply, 21 January 1985, c. 281]: I would see it as more appropriate to consider the need for such an agency in the context of our consideration of the United Kingdom's involvement in the programmes of the European Space Agency over the next 10–15 years and this is a main purpose of the Rome meeting.

asked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the discovery of an unofficial record of the signals received and sent by HMS Conqueror during the Falklands campaign.

I assume that the hon. Member is referring to certain turnover notes, though these are not an unofficial signals record. As my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Defence told the hon. Gentleman on 14 December, the turnover notes of the radio operator of HMS Conqueror are in the possession of the Ministry of Defence.

asked the Prime Minister why it is not the practice to give details of the instructions given to drivers of ministerial cars.

For reasons of security.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for 22 January.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list her official engagements for Tuesday 22 January.

This morning I had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others. In addition to my duties in the House I shall be having further meetings later today.

asked the Prime Minister how many letters she has received concerning the implications for the construction industry of Government restrictions on local government spending; and if she will make a statement.

I have received two letters on this subject from contractors in the construction industry, and three from other individuals. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Environment maintains close contact with the construction industry, and discussed reports on infrastucture by NEDO, the CBI and the TUC at the last National Economic Development Council meeting on 9 January 1985. He will be meeting the group of eight next month.

asked the Prime Minister whether she has any plans to seek to pay an official visit to Israel in 1985.

I have at present no plans to do so.

asked the Prime Minister if the Prime Minister of Israel has been invited to pay an official visit to the United Kingdom; and if she will make a statement.

During the visit to Israel last October of my right hon. and learned Friend the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary, the Israeli Prime Minister accepted an invitation to make an official visit to Britain. No dates have yet been arranged.

asked the Prime Minister if, in view of the recent decision of the European Assembly to initiate an inquiry into police conduct in the United Kingdom during the miners' dispute, she will make a statement outlining the policy of Her Majesty's Government on whether official co-operation will be given to such inquiries; and if Her Majesty's Government will make it their policy not to permit members or officials of the European Assembly to enter the United Kingdom to conduct such inquiries.

It is not the policy of the Government to co-operate in inquiries set up the by European Assembly on matters which are outside its competence. No official co-operation will therefore be given to the inquiry into police conduct in the United Kingdom during the miners' dispute. Members and officials of the Assembly seeking to come here in connection with such an inquiry will be treated for immigration purposes in the same way that such members and officials are normally treated.

asked the Prime Minister if she will make a statement on the measures taken against international terrorism by Her Majesty's Government since she addressed the British Jewish community on 21 July 1983 in the areas of closer co-operation between Governments, the sharing of information, plans and techniques by like-minded countries and other relevant matters.

In 1984 Her Majesty's Government inspired the agreement among the Ten on measures to improve co-operation against terrorism and the abuse of diplomatic immunity. The Government worked hard to secure the London summit declaration on international terrorism and the resolution adopted by the Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe. Work continues both multilaterally and in bilateral discussions with individual countries.

asked the Prime Minister if she will list the Government Departments with offices in Wales which will be taking part in Wintex-Cimex '85.

The Welsh Office, the Department of the Environment, the Department of Transport and HM Customs and Excise have offices in Wales which will be taking part in Wintex-Cimex '85.

asked the Prime Minister if she will dismiss the Secretary of State for Scotland.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy whether he collects any information from the National Coal Board about its use of private security contractors; and if he will make a statement.

My Department does not collect any information of this nature from the National Coal Board.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy if he has any plans to change the present membership of the National Coal Board.

No.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy (1) if he proposes any further changes to the structure of the Atomic Energy Authority following the review of the role and activities of the authority in 1984;(2) what progress has been made in implementing the recommendation of the recent review of the role of the Atomic Energy Authority that the authority should operate on a trading fund basis; if he proposes to introduce legislation to amend the Atomic Energy Authority Act 1954 to enable the authority to borrow in the financial markets; and if he will make a statement.

Good progress has been made in consultations with relevant parties about the recommendations of the AEA review and a statement will be made shortly.

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what information is available to his Department about the number of National Union of Mineworkers' members who have (a) taken full-time employment elsewhere, (b) died or become permanently incapacitated, (c) reached National Coal Board retirement age and (d) applied for redundancy since the dispute began.

I understand from the National Coal Board that information is not recorded in the form requested. The available information is as follows:

Men taken off colliery books for reasons stated 12 March 1984 to 5 January 1985:
	Number
Redundancy (all voluntarily accepted)	5,751
Retired for health reasons or deceased	873
Early and age retirement	426

The board has received over 20,000 other inquiries about redundancy benefits. The board also tells me that it has no reliable information about the total number of men who have taken full-time employment elsewhere, but that 2,362 men on colliery books (not included in the figures above) are no longer employed by the board for reasons other than those stated above.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether the disclosure by the Civil Commissioner, Sir Rex Hunt, of parts of the new constitution to the Falkland Islands Legislative Council in advance of its publication to the House in March was done with his prior consent.

Ministers agreed last December that the latest draft of the constitution should be made available by the Civil Commissioner to councillors for their consideration. It was entirely in accordance with normal practice that councillors should be consulted in this way.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will take steps through diplomatic sources in Libya to seek to establish the extent of involvement of United Kingdom companies or their subsidiaries in gas pipeline contracts in that country.

I have been asked to reply.Since the break in diplomatic relations with Libya on 29 April 1984, the Italian Government have been responsible for the protection of British interests in. Libya. Two junior diplomats are attached to the Italian embassy in Tripoli to help with consular and administrative affairs, but not commercial matters. Therefore I am unable to take the steps suggested.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he has any plans to change the rules concerning free transport to schools.

There are no plans at present to amend the provisions on school transport in the Education Act 1944. We shall continue to watch the situation.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is his latest estimate of young people studying under the 21 and 15 hour rules.

Records are not kept centrally but there are indications that the number has increased since the Youthaid organisation estimated a figure of about 10,000 in 1982/83.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science when he next expects to discuss pay and conditions with the unions representing lecturers in further education; and if he will make a statement.

I have discussions with the main unions representing teachers from time to time. However, since the pay of further education lecturers is a matter for the Burnham further education committee, and conditions of service for the national joint council for teachers in further education, these are not normally on the agenda for such discussions. I have no immediate plans for a meeting with the associations representing further education teachers.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent representations he has had concerning compulsory membership of student unions.

Eight representations have been received since January 1984, in most cases from right hon. and hon. Members referring to correspondence they had themselves received.

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will take steps to calculate the total amount of public funds spent on the financing of university and college student unions.

The information is not available. Its collation would involve making inquiries of a large number of institutions and my right hon. Friend does not believe this to be justified. The best information available

LEAs with Grammar Schools in January 1984
	A	B	C	D	E	F	G	H	I	J	K	L	M	N
LEA	Number of secondary schools*	*Pupils in secondary schools			Number of grammar schools	Number of pupils in grammar schools	Percentage of pupils in grammar schools	Single sex grammar schools				Percentage of all secondary boys in boys grammar schools	Percentage of all secondary girls in girls grammar schools	Percentage of all secondary pupils in single sex grammar schools
		Number of boys	Number of girls	Boys and girls				Number of schools	Number in boys schools	Number in girls schools	Number in boys and girls schools
Barnet	26	9,812	9,704	19,516	2	1,213	6·2	2	0	1,213	1,213	0	12·5	6·2
Bexley	19	8,974	8,780	17,754	2	2,001	11·3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Bromley	23	10,256	9,992	20,248	2	1,257	6·2	2	584	673	1,257	5·7	6·7	6·2
Enfield	20	10,204	9,775	19,979	1	1,220	6·1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Kingston upon Thames	11	4,477	4,340	8,817	2	1,561	17·7	2	842	719	1,561	18·8	16·6	17·7
Redbridge	16	7,856	7,456	15,312	2	1,352	8·8	2	772	580	1,352	9·8	7·8	8·8
Sutton	16	6,228	6,008	12,236	4	2,897	23·7	4	1,255	1,642	2,897	20·2	27·3	23·7
Birmingham	98	42,182	39,559	81,741	8	5,542	6·8	8	3,420	2,122	5,542	8·1	5·4	6·8
Walsall	24	13,253	12,672	25,925	2	1,234	4·8	2	640	594	1,234	4·8	4·7	4·8
Wolverhampton	22	10,953	10,797	21,750	1	584	2·7	1	0	584	584	0	5·4	2·7
Liverpool	46	20,351	20,106	40,457	2	847	2·1	2	522	325	847	2·6	1·6	2·1
Wirral	26	13,465	13,150	26,615	4	4,409	16·6	4	2,169	2,240	4,409	16·1	17·0	16·6
Trafford	25	7,744	7,899	15,643	8	5,597	35·8	8	2,498	3,099	5,597	32·3	39·2	35·8
Calderdale	23	8,416	7,966	16,382	7	3,833	23·4	5	1,097	1,099	2,196	13·0	13·8	13·4
Kirklees	40	16,866	16,756	33,622	1	618	1·8	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Avon	62	33,756	33,094	66,850	2	1,551	2·3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Berkshire	65	26,857	26,095	52,952	6	3,811	7·2	3	621	1,201	1,822	2·3	4·6	3·4
Buckinghamshire	51	19,574	18,889	38,463	14	11,919	31·0	10	4,571	4,314	8,885	23·4	22·8	23·1
Cumbria	51	19,572	19,530	39,102	1	356	0·9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Devon	85	33,636	32,468	66,104	10	5,651	8·6	7	1,689	2,025	3,714	5·0	6·2	5·6
Dorset	63	22,993	22,243	45,236	7	4,867	10·8	6	1,906	1,788	3,694	8·3	8·0	8·2
Essex	117	60,774	58,585	119,359	8	5,894	4·9	8	2,983	2,911	5,894	4·9	5·0	4·9
Gloucestershire	52	19,606	19,582	39,188	11	6,914	17·6	9	2,669	3,188	5,857	13·6	16·3	15·0
Hereford and Worcester	82	28,516	28,126	56,642	1	784	1·4	1	0	784	784	0	2·8	1·4
Kent	154	61,269	59,452	120,721	28	19,621	16·3	24	7,328	9,048	16,376	12·0	15·2	13·6
Lancashire	120	53,777	53,190	106,967	5	3,237	3·0	4	1,287	1,129	2,416	2·4	2·1	2·3
Lincolnshire	70	21,150	20,590	41,740	15	8,370	20·1	8	2,393	2,598	4,991	11·3	12·6	12·0
Norfolk	59	24,271	23,216	47,487	3	1,340	2·8	2	188	180	368	0·8	0·8	0·8
North Yorkshire	69	26,417	26,132	52,549	7	4,252	8·1	6	1,770	1,837	3,607	6·7	7·0	6·9
Shropshire	44	16,971	16,362	33,333	2	619	1·9	2	383	236	619	2·3	1·4	1·9
Warwickshire	43	16,377	16,305	32,682	5	2,374	7·3	4	934	997	1,931	5·7	6·1	5·9
Wiltshire	43	20,809	20,232	41,041	2	1,462	3·6	2	717	745	1,462	3·4	3·7	3·6
England	4,444	1,845,951	1,799,635	3,645,586	175	117,187	3·2	138	43,238	47,871	91,109	2·3	2·7	2·5
* Including middle deemed secondary schools".

is that in the academic year 1982–83, United Kingdom universities and polytechnics in England and Wales allocated some £21·4 million to their student unions.